TIB: 1,675kg smuggled gold seized in last four fiscal years

A total of 1,674.881 kilograms of smuggled gold has been seized from different parts of Bangladesh in the last four fiscal years, says Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).
The government suffered a revenue loss between Tk486 crore and Tk974 crore in the gold sector due to the illegally imported precious metal, TIB said in a media statement on Sunday.
The graft watchdog said it conducted a research between July and November that found a certain group of people, starting from civil aviation authorities, government and non-government airline companies to members of law enforcement agencies, were mostly involved in gold smuggling.
The report also said that government had poor control over gold market and it was being dominated by the jewellery shop owners, leading to maximum illegal importation of gold.
Bangladeshi gold market was being captured by foreign gold without proper quality checking and any other measurement, it added.
The report said there was an accountability deficit in the industry that is causing serious harm to consumers.
TIB also suggested the authorities concerned to evaluate the legal structure for gold industry mentioning several loopholes in it.
Bangladeshi market has a demand of 18 to 36 tons of gold, which is mostly being fulfilled with illegally imported gold.